


Birthday Present

by kjack89



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Party, Established Relationship, Friendship, M/M, Surprise Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 22:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2484743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/kjack89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Marius wants for his birthday is a quiet night out with Courfeyrac. Courfeyrac, naturally, has other plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Present

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Boots (pwnmercys)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pwnmercys/gifts).



> For Neil's birthday - much love to you and thanks for everything!!
> 
> Usual disclaimer applies. Please be kind and tip your fanfic writers in the form of comments and/or kudos.

“Guess what’s coming up this weekend!” Courfeyrac said excitedly, plopping down on Marius’s bed and beaming at him.

Marius glanced up from his law textbook, his gaze slightly unfocused. “Um,” he said vaguely, scratching the tip of his nose with his highlighter, apparently not realizing that the cap was off, and smearing neon yellow across his nose. “Is there some kind of sporting event? Or protest?”

Courfeyrac laughed. “Close, my friend, but no cigar. No, this weekend happens to be one of my favorite days of the year — your birthday!”

Blinking, Marius lowered his textbook. “Wait,  _my_  birthday is one of  _your_  favorite days on the year?” Courfeyrac beamed, but Marius frowned. “Does that mean you’re planning something?”

“Maaaaaaaybe,” Courfeyrac said, drawing out the syllable as he waggled his eyebrows at Marius.

Marius sighed heavily, already turning his attention back to his book as he assumedly gave the topic up as a lost cause. “And I don’t suppose any amount of pleading and cajoling will convince you not to make a spectacle of my birthday?”

Courfeyrac pouted. “But why wouldn’t you  _want_  your birthday to be a spectacle?” he asked, sounding genuinely puzzled, as if the idea had never occurred to him. “I mean, my goal is to always have my own birthday be the party of the year, and while I can’t promise that for your birthday, we can at least aim for party of the month, don’t you think?”

Sighing again, Marius set his textbook aside and leaned forward to pat Courfeyrac’s knee. “I know it’s hard for you to believe,” he said patiently, “but some of us are not actually fond of being the center of attention. Especially when some of us have the tendency to trip over thin air and then fall face-first into someone’s birthday cake.”

“But that was only one time,” Courfeyrac said, though he couldn’t help but grin at the memory. “And besides, Enjolras forgave you eventually. I think. I mean, it’s not like he talks to you on a normal basis anyway, so no real loss there.”

“Speak for yourself,” Marius grumbled, though he was smiling as well. “But seriously. I know that nothing I say will change your mind, but I’d just like the record to reflect that I’m not a huge fan of parties, for what it’s worth.”

Courfeyrac sighed heavily. “But if I don’t throw you a magnificent party, what will I give you for your birthday?”

Marius laughed and rested his head against Courfeyrac’s shoulder. “I suppose you wouldn’t consider just not getting me anything?” Courfeyrac made a scandalized noise and Marius laughed. “Yeah, I thought not. Truthfully? I’d love if we could just maybe have a night out, just the two of us. Between my studying and your — well, extracurricular life, shall we say — we never get to spend much time together anymore.”

“Aw, do you miss me?” Courfeyrac asked delightedly, though his expression softened and he turned and kissed Marius’s forehead. “Fine. I suppose I can sacrifice what could have been the party of the month, provided that I get to pick the restaurant.”

“Fine,” Marius said genially, picking his textbook back off the bed. “But I get to pick the movie.”

* * *

 

“Have I told you how much of a cheeseball you are?” Courfeyrac asked, linking his arm through Marius’s as they left the movie theatre to head to dinner.

Marius glanced up at him. “Why?” he asked, faking a pout. “You didn’t enjoy the movie choice?”

Courfeyrac snorted. “Were I any sort of a believer in gender norms, I would feel the need to reassert my masculinity after that. I mean, a Nicholas Sparks movie? Bahorel would never let me hear the end of it.”

“I happen to know for a fact that Feuilly and Bahorel went to see this movie together,” Marius told Courfeyrac in a conspiratorial whisper.

Courfeyrac practically got whiplash from how quickly he turned his head to gape at Marius. “Seriously?”

Marius nodded. “Yup. And I have it on good authority that Bahorel cried.” Courfeyrac looked delighted, and Marius elbowed him. “As a reminder, you were just thinking about how much you would get teased if Bahorel found out, so if I hear you were doing some reverse teasing, I  _will_  tell everyone how you started crying five minutes in and basically just didn’t stop.”

Now Courfeyrac looked downright scandalized. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me,” Marius said easily. “It  _is_  my birthday, after all.”

Heaving a sigh, Courfeyrac slowly shook his head. “Fine, I’ll let it go. For now, anyway.”

Marius laughed and squeezed Courfeyrac’s arm. “That’s awfully big of you.” He glanced over at him. “Dare I ask what we’re doing for dinner? Because if it involves chopsticks—”

Courfeyrac laughed. Marius’s first adventure at a sushi restaurant had not gone well, only a few days after moving in with Courfeyrac. He had never quite mastered chopsticks, apparently forgot that he had a mild shellfish allergy, and to top it all off, had mistaken wasabi for — well, Courfeyrac honestly wasn’t even sure  _what_  Marius had mistaken it for, but the kid had taken a giant mouthful, which was, to put it mildly, a huge mistake. Needless to say, their first foray into Japanese cuisine had also subsequently been their last, though Courfeyrac loved to bring it up at every given opportunity. “I wouldn’t do that to you,” he told Marius innocently. “Not on your birthday.”

Marius glared at him. “That’s an absolute lie.”

“Fine, I wouldn’t do it to you if there was no one else to witness it.”

Laughing, Marius shook his head. “Now,  _that_  I believe.” He looked back at Courfeyrac. “Seriously, though, where are we going.”

Courfeyrac raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m not tell you that, it’s a surprise. I’ll just say that I heard about it from Grantaire, which means you can be practically guaranteed that it’s going to be excellent.”

“Well, that is reassuring,” Marius said with a smile. They fell into comfortable silence as they strolled along, until Marius said, a little abruptly, “This has been a really good birthday, by the way. Thank you for that.”

Courfeyrac glanced over at him and smiled. “The night is still young, my friend,” he told him, before leaning in and kissing his cheek, “but I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. And hopefully you enjoy everything else.”

“Everything else?” Marius asked, frowning slightly. “We’re just having dinner, right?” Courfeyrac just winked, and Marius sighed. “Why am I not surprised?”

* * *

 

“Surprise!”

Marius sighed heavily at the sight of all their friends gathered in his and Courfeyrac’s apartment. “Why am I not surprised?” he said, echoing what he had said earlier. He glanced over at Courfeyrac, who was beaming from where he stood in front of a bunch of balloons. “I’m assuming you had something to do with this? Even though you promised?”

Courfeyrac just laughed and bounded over to kiss his cheek and tell him, “I made no such promise. It might have been an implied verbal agreement, but you’re the lawyer. You should know to get everything in writing. Besides, I just couldn’t stop myself.” He hesitated before asking, a little anxiously, “You’re not angry, are you?”

Marius sighed again, because one of the things he both hated and loved about Courfeyrac was the fact that it was impossible to be mad at him about something like that. “No, I’m not mad,” he promised, patting Courfeyrac’s cheek. “Let’s get this party started, shall we?”

Everyone cheered at that, and in only a moment more, the party was in full swing, with the music blasting and drinks being passed around. Courfeyrac seemed to be trying to form an impromptu dance floor in the middle of the living room and seemed intent on getting everyone to dance with him, to varying degrees of success (the look on Combeferre’s face spoke volumes, and Enjolras had beat a hasty retreat to the kitchen, rather than get roped into dancing).

For his part, Marius sat down on the couch after Courfeyrac moved it out of the way and mostly just watched everything that was happening, which was perfectly fine with him. Courfeyrac had a tendency — whether accidental or on purpose — of diverting attention away from him, but in this case, Marius was quite grateful. He wasn’t sure he could handle it if everyone started wishing him happy birthday.

He only left the couch once, to stop Jehan and Joly from trying to make a bong out of a vase, and when he returned, he was not alone: Grantaire was lounging on the couch and smiled at him when he joined. “Here,” he said, handing Marius a cup. “Made you a drink.”

Marius sniffed it cautiously. “Do I even want to know what it is?”

Grantaire smirked. “It’s a birthday present, if you want it, anyway — it’ll enable you to forget this entire evening happened.”

Stricken, Marius’s eyes widened and he asked in an urgent whisper, “Is it roofied?”

Grantaire almost fell off the couch from laughing so hard, though, of course, he managed not to spill anything from his own drink. “Of course not,” he said when he had recovered slightly. “It’s just really strong, and you’re a bit of a lightweight.”

“Oh. Well, that is true.” Marius took a hesitant sip and lit up. “It tastes just like birthday cake!”

Grantaire winked at him before nodding at where Courfeyrac was currently doing a dance that could only be described as the funky chicken if the chicken were to be having a seizure. “I’ll take it the surprise party was  _not_ what you had in mind for this evening?”

Marius sighed and shrugged. “No, I made him promise that he wouldn’t throw me a party. Of course, that went about as well as it could considering it’s, you know, Courf.”

Nodding, Grantaire’s eyes swept through the room until landing firmly on Enjolras, who was still hiding in the kitchen, and a small smile pulled on his lips. “You know, for my birthday, I made Enjolras promise that we’d spend it just the two of us, no work, no Les Amis, no nothing. Just him and me. Of course, on the day of, he was nowhere to be found, and I stormed down to the Musain to give him a piece of my mind for working on my birthday, exactly what he had promised not to, only to find that he had rented out the bar for my party, surrendered his cellphone and laptop to Combeferre for the entire night, and even gotten us a hotel room for later.”

Though Marius nodded, he also frowned slightly as he noted, “Technically Enjolras still went back on his promise to spend your birthday with just you…”

Grantaire shrugged and winked at him again. “Yeah,” he acknowledged, “but would we love them any other way?”

Marius considered it, watching as Courfeyrac broke out into the YMCA, and then lifted his cup to clink it against Grantaire’s. “No, probably not. Besides, Courfeyrac will make it up to me later.”

Laughing, Grantaire stood to head back to the kitchen. “Didn’t really need to know that, man.”

Marius blushed scarlet. “Not like that!” he called, but Grantaire had already disappeared, so he settled back onto the couch and took another sip of his drink, watching Courfeyrac dance. “Well, ok, maybe a little like that.” After all, it  _was_  his birthday.


End file.
